Benjamin Hawkins

Benjamin Hawkins (15 August 1754-6 June 1816) was a US Senator from North Carolina from 8 December 1789 to 4 March 1795, preceding Timothy Bloodworth. He was initially a member of the Federalist Party, but he later joined the Democratic-Republican Party.

Biography
Benjamin Hawkins was born in Granville County, North Carolina in 1754 to a planter elite family. During the American Revolutionary War, he was commissioned as a colonel in the Continental Army, and he served as George Washington's main interpreter for French. However, he was released from federal service in 1777 after Washington came to use the Marquis de Lafayette for his dealings with the French, and Hawkins was elected to the North Carolina House of Representatives in 1778. From 1781 to 1783 and in 1787, he represented North Carolina in the Continental Congress. In 1789, he became one of the state's inaugural US Senators, and, although he was affiliated with the Federalist Party from 1789 to 1791, he later reaffiliated himself with the Democratic-Republican Party. Under President Washington, he served as General Superintendent for Indian Affairs, and he was the principal agent for the Creeks; he even married a Creek woman and had seven children with her. Hawkins died in 1816.